Meta-Analysis of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism: The International Journal of Research & Practice
Tiede, G., & Walton, K. M. (2019).
Autism: The International Journal of Research & Practice, 23(8), 2080-2095.
This meta-analysis investigates naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention in young children on the autism spectrum.
No funding received
The results of this systematic review are available elsewhere in the Evidence Maps. See the Associated Article(s) section below for more information.
Not further specified
Controlled, group design studies
27 studies in 29 reports
Results indicated naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention to have significant and moderate effects (g) on cognitive development (g = 0.48) in young children on the autism spectrum. Findings suggested that gains in overall IQ may be due to gains in the verbal domain rather than in the nonverbal domain.
Results indicated naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention to have larger effects (g) on social engagement (g = 0.65) and relatively smaller, but significant, composite effects for joint attention (g = 0.14) and play (g= 0.23). Dosage, however, was reported to significantly moderate the effects of joint attention outcomes; an increase in professional hours was significantly associated with a positive increase in joint attention outcomes.
Results indicated naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention to have small, but positive, effects (g) on expressive language (g = 0.32) and receptive language (g = 0.28) in young children on the autism spectrum. Dosage was reported not to moderate the effects of intervention.
